Dancing With the Stars Recap: Reality Sets in for Week 2! Who Was Your Favorite?

After what many (even perpetual crankypants Len Goodman) called the best first week ever on Dancing With the Stars, it’s not a huge surprise that Week 2 of Season 14 felt a little less celebratory.

Here’s everything you need to know about the evening’s festivities, which found our couples tackling either the Quick Step or the Jive. Brace yourselves, ballroom fans, because the season’s first results show is less than 24 hours away!

Shiny Happy People | Who was that judge in the middle, smiling ear-to-ear and dishing out compliments starting with the very first dance of the night (a dynamic quick step from Roshon and Chelsie)? Ladies and gentleman, allow me to introduce Len Goodman, who clearly snuck a couple of Carrie Ann’s happy pills before tonight’s show. Of course, those pills eventually wore off, but at least our head judge ‘fessed up to underscoring Donald Driver last week. So a thumbs up and a slow clap for Len! Later on, Sherri Shepherd (aka “the happiest contestant ever”) gave us her very finest Tina Turner impression — she even lipsynched! — and her sheer exuberance was so infectious, I didn’t even notice she messed up a step. (Thanks, Carrie Ann, for pointing that out?)

Makin’ Over Martina | It’s still such a hoot to see uber-jock Navratilova unabashedly glam it up in the hair, make-up, and crazy costumes departments; her self-assurance is a thing of beauty, whether she’s curling a mini dumbbell pre-dance or starting her quick step behind the judges’ desk. “I love all the joy,” said Carrie Ann, and I couldn’t agree more — even if the tennis legend’s mistakes-laden jive was less than stellar.

Tears and Tension | Melissa Gilbert’s rehearsal tears sent Maks’ frustration meter soaring — as did her little mid-Quickstep misstep — and it seems like we’re in for one of those seasons where Maks is none too happy with his designated celeb. Meanwhile, after Tristan and Gladys got a boo-inspiring 5 from Len, the singing legend had to work overtime to suppress her own tears. “That’s OK, I love Len,” said the diva, putting her brave face forward. The lady is all class!

Random Faces in the Crowd | Was that Martina’s doubles partner Pam Shriver and the legendary Jimmy Connors in the crowd at the beginning of the show? Thanks to the DWTS camera crew for confirming my suspicions later in the show!

Maks isn’t frustrated with his partner. He says wonderful things about her in his blog. Those judges have an agenda and they’re not going to treat him fairly. Heck I’M frustrated with the judges. To annoy them, I’m voting for Maks.

I agree!!! You can’t tell me her technically difficult dance was worse than Gavin’s, Jack’s or even Jaleel’s. I enjoyed Melissa’s routine way more than either of those. The judges seem to be determined to tick off Maks and dock whoever his partner is for calling out their biased judging, even though other pros have done it in the past. The other pros just apologize and suck up later. At least Maks is honest and unapologetic for speaking what he’s thinking!

Yes The judges have it out for him, and they take it out on his partners. Sherri messed up right before them and they just brushed it off and yet they picked apart his and Melissa’s. Just pisses me off lol.

The scoring for Melissa and Max was so way off. I have watched every episode since season one and have never seen the judges behave so badly because of a personal vendetta. They should not take it out on Melissa if they are angry at Max. GET OVER IT the producers brought him back and the fans love him. I was going to split up my votes between 2-3 stars but after their behavior I gave all my votes to them. Shame on LEN CARRIE ANN AND BRUNO. I thought Melissa danced beautifully and in the top half of the dances this week. SCREW ’em, usually they just use their prejudice to give Derek the best scores.

Brooke’s dress, at least the top half, left somethign to be desired. Cheryl’s dress showed she’s up on some weight, around her middle, not that she’s fat. The wardrobe department had better start paying attention to what they pick out. Tonight’s outfits weren’t flattering to some of the ladies. ;)

Yes William was over dressed but so darn handsome in that tux. I’m so happy he got to show he’s great at the classical ballroom too. I’m liking katherine a lot too. I think Martina will be the first to go. Len needs to figure it out be overly happy or be mean and point out very bitty flaw. He was manic tonight.

The judges have it out for Maks and his partner is going to take the brunt of it. When judging Melissa Gilbert they got all technical talking about posture and lines, but only stated that her shoulders were tense and she flubbed a step. Meanwhile, Sherry Shepherd missed a big move in her dance where she was supposed to slide between her partners legs, from behind, then twist up and end standing facing her partner, but the judges stated that even though she missed part of her dance, it didn’t matter because she had a great time dancing. I’m sorry, but everyone should be judged the same. If you’re going to judge one contestant technically, they should all be judged that way, not judged on if they looked like they were having fun or not.

I don’t think tonight was the best night for many couples overall. I don’t think anyone did outright bad or anything, but some were a bit off. I think a lot of it had to do with song choice, though, some of the songs these people get just don’t work against the dance, they’re not “ballroom dance” material.
If I had to pick I’d say the best couples tonight were Katherine and Mark (they were REALLY good), Donald and Peta, and yeah, Maria and Derek, too. And while it may not have been the best in terms of technique, I thought Jaleel and Kym’s dance was really cute to watch :). And yes, Gladys is a class act-while I definitely think she didn’t deserve a 5, at the same time, poor Len, that was one harsh, long boo going on throughout the crowd (Tom’s remark about ‘Clueless’ did make me laugh, though).
And yeah, William was definitely “overdressed”, so to speak, but hey, I do like me a man in a suit, so that’s fine, too.

Did I miss something? Maks wasn’t frustrated with Melissa. He was complimenting her dancing and she started to cry because she was happy no drama there. Anyway I think it’s becoming glaringly obvious that the judges are overscoring and underscoring some of the contestants. I want new judges.

I thought the same thing after reading this article..did I miss something? Where’s Slezak anyway?? :) I don’t think Maks is showing disrespect at all for Melissa. And her tears were tears of joy! Perhaps one should watch the show before recapping? :) :)
I think the judges are marking some too high at first. Then when a couple comes out that dances better, the only place they have to go in their scoring is a “10”, which would be crazy this early in the game. I thought last night someone would get a 10 because they started their scoring so high at the beginning.

I SOOOOO agree. I love Max and because the judges have an issue with his attitude-and -yes sometimes he does have one-BUT deseverdly so! They do not sho any respect for his fantastic dancing and choreographing talents. I could watch him dance all day. I know if he chooses to leave the show-(which I would hate) he will be VERY VERY successful on his own. The show will lose not only a great dancer but a huge following of Maks’.

I don’t get why you all think that maks is being punished. Melissa wasn’t that great last week and only a little better this week. They are NOT out to get Maks. I mean I want maks to get a trophy as well, but after two weeks, I don’t think it’s gonna happen with Melissa.

I absolutely am loving Sherri shepherd — she is so much fun to watch and she can dance, even if she had a misstep, she is just amazing.

Best dance/jive — katherine and mark
best quickstep — william and cheryl

Dancing with the stars is so much more entertaining than the voice and I hate that NBC is trying to destroy this great show by airing it opposite it. Dancing won the first round in viewers, hopefully it will continue to beat it.

The last two weeks have been a great start to this season – I’m excited. I’m grateful there are no total embarrassments, for their own sakes as well as ours. I’m not surprised this week was less stellar – they aren’t superheroes afterall! I’m ecstatic there are no politicians, kids of politicians or stars. While I may not have known every star myself this year, it is obvious they are and/or were real stars in their fields – great job, casting.

I have always thought Brooke Burke was a beautiful woman, long before she got this DWTS hosting gig, but often felt like they just didn’t know how to dress her. Well, IMO, she has started out this season looking absolutely gorgeous. Loved last week’s gown – it fit her beautifully. And I know from reading some of these blogs that people think tonight’s gown was trampy, but I don’t agree. I again thought it was beautiful and well-fitted. Can the wardrobe team make it 3 for 3 tomorrow night?

I totally felt that Melissa & Maks got robbed tonight. I didn’t quibble with the 20 they got last week, but seriously?? Tonight’s dance was sooooo technically harder than many others. She looked amazing through most of it. The quibbles of being in her head or her shoulders should not have warranted the scores they gave her. Her run up and down the stairs was gorgeous and flawless, and even the opening – which they started apart – stunned me with how well they became synchronized immediately – beautiful. After the obvious misstep from Sherri (not horrible, but completely overlooked in the scoring), I thought the total emphasis on nitpicking Melissa apart seemed extreme.

I have to quibble with this recap, however. No way did Maks EVER seem annoyed with his partner. On the contrary, in the package, I felt he was poking fun at himself, saying he gets tears whether he’s mean or nice. Likewise, before the dance, he faked tears himself. And Melissa Gilbert has gone out of her way to say repeatedly how much she loves and respects him. Let’s not start drama where there was not even a sign of it. Thanks.

My votes went to Melissa & Maks tonight, not because they are my favorites (don’t have one yet) but because I felt they were the most blatantly misjudged.

I’m not sure about Max being punished either. I thought that Melissa was one of the dancers who lacked the most. I love Roshon this week. I have to watch again before tomorrow as I didn’t see the entire show.

One thing I’ll say…even though Katherine and Mark are ahead and I’d love to see Mark up there this year, I think they may be the first to go ONLY because no one knows Katherine Jenkins and this show is a popularity contest.

I couldn’t stand Martina’s costume last night, and she’s not a good dancer, but I don’t want her to go home. I don’t think I’m “getting” the concept anymore. I didn’t think “the stars” were supposed to be good dancers; we were supposed to enjoy watching their progress and improvement week to week based on how hard they were trying to learn. Now it seems that most who go on there start off as really good dancers, so they stay just because they are already such good dancers.

Martina might get voted off for her unfortunate outfit alone. :( And I think Gladys forgot that the name of her dance was the “Quick” step. It was not quick. :) I am really enjoying this season so far. I enjoyed watching all of them tonight. Sherri makes me smile the most. I can’t wait to see how she does as the weeks go on. :)

Sherri messed up a step? No, they missed an entire trick, and it was very obvious. Sge was way overscored in my opinion.Melissa missed just one step and she was heavily criticized for it. She was underscored.

Could some help me please. I have problems with short term memory loss due to seizures. I thought for sure they did an in memory of: someone last nnight at the end of the show. It was an older man. Not that unfortunate young, murdered in Cold Blood in Florida.